A bill currently passing through the Oireachtas which could make it easier for Irish prisoners abroad to serve their sentences at home has been cautiously welcomed by the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO). Irish bishops The ICPO, which was established by the Irish bishops, noted the long wait times for prisoners applying to serve…
Isolating Syria from the international community through sanctions “benefits no one” and complicates relief efforts to the millions left homeless after earthquakes devasted the country, said a top Vatican official who visited Turkey and Syria. “We are still in the middle of this tragedy because it is not certain that the tremors are over,” said…
Both Christians and Muslims fast, pray and give alms. Can we learn anything from one another, asks Fr Michael Barnes SJ At this moment of the Church’s year, as Christians begin the long period of Lent, my thoughts always turn to Muslim friends and to various conversations which I have enjoyed on the subject of…
A Catholic prayer app soared to the number three spot on the Apple App Store on Ash Wednesday, overtaking the usual top dogs TikTok, Google, Netflix, Spotify and Instagram. First launched in 2018, ‘Hallow’ has managed millions of downloads and reached around 150 countries. Last year, the app surpassed 100 million prayers completed through the service. Hallow…
The Society of Jesus said it will open a new internal procedure on Jesuit Fr Marko Rupnik after receiving abuse accusations with a “very high” degree of credibility against the artist. According to a February 21 statement on the Jesuit website, the accusations the religious order received span from 1985 to 2018 and include claims…
Following a devastating arson attack on a historic church in Germany — and several prior incidents in Paris, France — a European watchdog has raised concerns over hate crimes targeting Christian churches on the continent. The 1,000-year-old Church of the Elevation of the Cross in Wissen, a community in the Westerwald region, was severely damaged…
The legislative effort to delay broadening Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) eligibility to individuals solely afflicted with a mental illness by a year is forging ahead, but there are signs Canadians are not comfortable with moving forward. Bill C-39 passed the House of Commons February 15, and one day later it was read for the…
Dennis Coday A couple of weeks before my three sons left for college, I took each to dinner. They chose the restaurant, reflecting their personalities: a Thai place, a steak house, a premium burger grill. I picked up the tab, but I wasn’t there for dinner. I wanted to talk. I gave each a copy…
Carlos Medina, the husband of Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell’s housekeeper, has admitted to murdering the bishop, the Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón has said. “He admitted that he had done the killing and we believe we recovered the weapon that they were using, and we have other evidence from the bed, certain…
The three Abrahamic religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — now share a common place to worship in the predominantly Muslim United Arab Emirates with the opening of the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi. Such was the dream of Pope Francis and Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb, who in 2019 signed a historic pledge calling…